Someone once told me that life was too short to read bad books. It's good advice, really, one that I take ever-more to heart (as my life grows ever-shorter), and can apply to many areas of life (food, friends, clothing). But maybe it doesn't go far enough.
There is an interview in Salon today with a film-maker who claims Fox News "brain-washed" her dad.
Whether we call it "brain-washing" or not, the ubiquity of the media, which is designed to arouse our emotions while bypassing our frontal cortexes, powerfully shapes our world views.
It makes me reflect on how young men who spend hours a day steeped in the "manosphere" are being taught to hate women. I know many of them will say they only read bloggers like Roosh or Heartiste for their entertainment value, or to pick up "dating tips," but a steady diet of the manosphere is gonna take its toll on their psyches. Hell, reading some of those blogs has taken a toll on my psyche, and I am an extremely critical -- nay, hostile -- reader. All that loathing of women! How can I not internalize some portion of that even as I dismiss it for the garbage it is? How can it not make me feel just a little less safe and a little less worthy?
Nowadays, it's all about filtering our information, and making a continuous, conscious attempt to swim away from the sources of toxic input.
I've spent the last couple of weeks reading my way through the manosphere and the women who hang off them and it's doing my psyche in!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, Bodycrimes. I'm checking out your blog now; it looks interesting.
DeleteI've even resolved to only take my manosphere in secondhand (through "hostile" blogs), and even that is starting to wear on me. I'm starting to feel the manosphere over my shoulder through my daily routine, telling me I'm a conniving, hyperemotional leech on society, and that -- at 26 -- I'm facing a life of spinsterhood. Maybe I need a break.
ReplyDeleteMy dear Brianne K.,
ReplyDeleteReading this makes me so sad and angry (on your behalf)!
I am twice your age (and childless), so please indulge me when I look upon women your age as my "daughters."
Women of my age -- who came of age during the "second wave" of feminism -- worked so hard to make things better for women of your age. And the resurgence of of the manosphere -- or what I call "the New Misogynists" -- seems like a direct backlash to everything we hoped to achieve -- to what we, in fact, thought we HAD achieved.
At your age (26), I never dreamed that I would be reading this manosphere horrible shit at my present age (58), or seeing it gain traction in the greater society. I was 18 when Roe vs. Wade passed. I never dreamed that women would lose the right to control their reproduction. Women my age, we took it for granted that things would be better for women your age. I am so sorry that hasn't necessarily been true. It is as depressing as hell. It scares me to death.
I totally support your needing a break. I have said the same thing myself, more than once. Then somehow I get drawn again into the fray... I guess I would rather know the worst than be in denial?
Anyway. I am flattered that you have read my blog. You seem like a remarkable young woman (please see my quick comments on your blog), someone who is curious and compassionate.
BTW, .don't let anyone persuade you that you are "facing a life of spinsterhood." (Not that there is anything wrong with being a spinster!) I myself am "single" but hardly celibate or without love -- but that is perhaps fodder for another blog -- or a personal conversation.